Joining expandable tubulars

ABSTRACT

A method of joining expandable tubulars includes joining the tubulars by forge welding and flushing a reducing flushing gas around the heated tubular ends during at least part of the forge welding operation such that oxides are removed from the forge welded tubular ends and the amount of irregularities between the forge welded tubular ends is limited.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method of joining expandable tubulars.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Expandable tubulars are increasingly used in oil and gas productionwells and may comprise slots or other perforations which are widened asa result of the expansion or may have a continuous ‘un-slotted’ wallwhich is circumferentially stretched by an expansion device such as anexpansion cone and/or a set of rollers.

Expandable tubulars are generally joined by mechanical connectors sincewelding may create at least some strengthening and/or weakening of thepipe wall in the region of the weld, and strengthening will hamper oreven disrupt the expansion process whereas weakening will result in atube which will easily collapse, buckle and/or burst in the weldingzone.

In addition, here it is required to weld slotted liners there areparticular problems to overcome. In the first instance slottedexpandable tubulars are difficult to seal completely to allow flushingwith non-oxidising or reducing gases or gas mixtures and removal of air.In the second place welding the end of unprepared slotted liners willalso cause the slots at the end of the tubular to be welded also. Thisimpedes expansion and prevents proper functioning of the slottedexpandable tubular.

It is known from International patent application WO 98/33619 to connectexpandable tubulars by amorphous bonding and from International patentapplication WO 0230611 to connect expandable tubulars by laser welding.However these connection techniques are time consuming and require avery precise positioning of the pipe ends relative to each other andmachining the pipe ends into an extremely accurate flat shape that thesetechnologies are not practical for use on for example a drilling rig, anoffshore oil platform or pipe laying vessel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The method according to the invention comprises joining the tubulars byforge welding whilst flushing a reducing flushing gas around the heatedtubular ends during at least part of the forge welding operation suchthat oxides are removed from the region of the forge welded tubular endsand the amount of irregularities between the forge welded tubular endsis limited, whereupon the thus joined tubulars are radially expanded.

The tubulars may comprise slots and/or other perforations at or near theforge welded ends, which slots and/or other perforations are filled witha heat resistant filler during the forge welding process.

Optionally, the tubular ends are heated by passing a high frequencycurrent in circumferential direction through the tubular walls near thetubular ends that are to be joined, and the heat resistant fillercomprises an electrically conductive ceramic material. In addition,where it is desirable to provide a gas seal around the weld area toallow flushing with non-oxidising or reducing gas or gas mixturesextended internal and external sealing regions are required.

The tubular ends that are to be joined may both be expanded and foldedinto a substantially similar dented or corrugated shape before the forgewelding operation, whereupon the dented or corrugated tubular ends areforge welded together and are unfolded into a substantially cylindricalshape during the subsequent tube expansion process. In such case thetubulars may have an unslotted, substantially continuous, wall in theregion of the welded ends and comprise an array of staggered slotsand/or other perforations away of the welded ends, such that when thetube is expanded the welded initially dented or corrugated tubular endsunfold to a substantially cylindrical shape and the slots and/or otherperforations are widened

The tubulars may be joined e.g. downhole in a well by forge weldingwherein the tubular ends are heated to a forge welding temperature andpressed together whilst a reducing flushing gas is flushed around theheated tubular ends during at least part of the forge welding operation.In such case the ends of the tubulars may at least partly overlap eachother and a forge welding device is inserted into the inner tubularwhich heats up the tubular end, flushes a reducing flushing gas into anygap remaining between the overlapping tubular ends and whichsubsequently presses the outer surface of the heated end of the innertubular against the inner surface of the outer tubular to join saidtubular ends by forge welding.

Optionally, the tubular ends are teethed or have a complementarysinusoidal shape in order to alleviate forces to the forge weldedtubular ends during the expansion and/or unfolding process.

It is preferred that the flushing gas is a non-explosive mixture of asubstantially inert gas and a reducing gas, which mixture may comprisemore than 90% by volume of a substantially inert gas, such as nitrogen,helium or argon and more than 2% by volume of hydrogen.

A large variety of heating technologies may be used to make the pipeends hot enough such that the metallurgical bond can be made. Theheating techniques may involve electric, electromagnetic, induction,infrared, arcing and/or friction heating or combinations of these and/orother heating methods.

When used in this specification the term forge welding is intended toencompass all techniques which involve circumferential heating of pipeends and subsequent metallurgical bonding the heated pipe ends,including welding techniques that are generally known as fusion welding,friction welding, flash welding and/or butt welding.

It is known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,566,625; 4,736,084; 4,669,650 and5,721,413 issued to Per H. Moe that it may be beneficial to flush thepipe ends just before and during the forge welding operation with areducing flushing gas, such as hydrogen or carbon monoxide, such thatany oxygen skin is removed from the heated pipe ends and a metallurgicalbond with a minimal amount of irregularities is obtained. It is alsoknown from U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,719,207 and 4,728,760 to use non explosivemixtures comprising about 95% by volume of a substantially insert gas,such as argon, nitrogen and/or helium, and about 5% by volume of areducing gas, such as hydrogen and/or carbon monoxide for flash weldingand induction butt welding.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic outline of an assembly for carrying out theautomated forge welding method according to the invention.

FIG. 2 depicts a longitudinal sectional view of an automated forgewelding assembly according to the invention which is equipped withspacer elements for maintaining the tubular ends at a predeterminedspacing during the heat up phase.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the forge welding assembly of FIG.2.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a tubular end, which is provided with a seriesof locking and orienting grooves.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the tubular end of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the tubular end shown in FIGS. 4 and5 taken across line A-A and seen in the direction of the arrows.

FIGS. 7 a and 7 b show side and top views of a forge welding apparatuswhich is equipped with an EMAT weld inspection assembly according to theinvention.

FIG. 8 shows a longitudinal section view of a spear which is insertedinto a pair of forge welded tubulars and which carries ring shapedassemblies of EMAT transmitters and receivers at each side of the weld.

FIG. 9 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a weld between tubularsthrough which an ultrasonic signal is transmitted.

FIG. 10 a-e show a three-dimensional view of an EMAT transmitter andreceiver assembly and how the acoustic signal is transmitted into thetubular wall.

FIG. 11 shows various suitable configurations of the EMAT transmitterand receiver assemblies.

FIG. 12 shows a pair of concave and convex pipe ends that have beeninterconnected.

FIG. 13 shows how the concave and convex pipe ends are inwardly orientedat an inward sloping angle X which is selected such that the heatedconcave and convex pipe ends have a substantially longitudinalorientation.

FIG. 14 is a longitudinal sectional view of a pair of cladded tubularends just before they are joined by the forge welding method accordingto the invention.

FIG. 15 a is a longitudinal sectional view of a pair of internallycladded tubular ends wherein one tubular end is concave and the othertubular end is convex.

FIG. 15 b is a longitudinal sectional view of a pair of externallycladded tubular ends wherein one end is convex and the other end isconcave.

FIG. 16 is a longitudinal sectional view of an end of a cladded tubularwherein the thickness of the clad layer is increased at the end of thetubular.

FIG. 17 shows two pipe ends with complementary teethed end faces. Theteethed end faces can be used to align the tubulars in angulardirection.

FIG. 18 show two pipe ends with complementary non-planar end-faces,which are in this case of a sinusoidal shape.

FIG. 19 shows two partially overlapping pipe ends of which the endsurfaces have a sinusoidal shape.

FIG. 20 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an external shield gaschamber in which a cold fluid is injected during the cool down phaseafter a forge welding operation.

FIG. 21 is a longitudinal sectional view of an internal spear via whicha cooling fluid is injected towards the forge welded tubular ends afterthe forge welding operation.

FIG. 22 depicts a partially longitudinal sectional and partially sideview of a slotted tubular at the diameter after installation.

FIG. 23 depicts a cross-sectional view of the tubular of FIG. 22 afterthe tubular end is folded into a corrugated shape.

FIG. 24 is a side view of the tubular shown in FIG. 23 showing thetransition from the slotted mid section towards the corrugated end,which is subsequently forge welded to a corrugated end of an adjacenttubular.

FIG. 25 is an illustration of the steps required in an embodiment of atechnique to ensure that the slots or perforations created in variousexpandable tubulars are filled with a refractory material to allow thepipe ends to be forge welded without the slots or perforations beingwelded together.

FIG. 26 depicts a seal assembly for forge welding of a slotted orperforated expandable tubular in which internal and external sealingareas have been significantly extended beyond that used for non-slottedand non-perforated tubulars.

FIG. 27 is a longitudinal sectional view of prepared and mated ends ofpipe joints suitable for welding in which a marker has been inserted inaccordance with the method according to the invention.

FIG. 28 is an enlarged longitudinal section view of the prepared andmated ends and marker shown in FIG. 27.

FIG. 29 is a longitudinal sectional view of a pair of tubulars that areinterconnected by a screw thread connector and an end surface of onetubular comprises a cavity in which a marker is inserted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 1 the positions of the tubular ends 3 and 4 that are tobe forge welded together are monitored by cameras 1 and 2 which arecoupled to a camera signal processor 5 which automatically controls agripping assembly 6, such that the spacing S between the heated tubularends 3A and 4A is well defined during the heat up phase and the tubularends are moved towards each other when a pyrometric control unitindicates that the tubular ends have reached a predetermined minimumand/or maximum temperature along at least a substantial part of thecircumference thereof, whereupon the gripping assembly is activated tomove the tubular ends 3A and 4A towards each other over a predetermineddistance (S+D) which exceeds said spacing (S) with an additionaldistance (D) of less than a few millimeters, such that a forge weld isobtained of a substantially equal and high quality over the entirecircumference of the forge welded ends and only minimal external and/orinternal upsets of the forge welded ends 3A, 4A is created, which upsetsdo not have to be removed afterwards by grinding, milling or machining.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 there is shown a forge welding assembly inwhich a set of two pairs electrodes 11A-D transmit high frequencyelectrical current through the walls of a pair of pipes 12 the ends 12a, 12 b of which are held at a predetermined spacing S by a set of fourspacing elements 13A-D. The electrode pairs 11A-B and 11C-D at each sideof the pipes 12 are electrically insulated from each other by anelectrical insulation layer 15. The spacing elements 13A-D are securedto the electrodes 11 by electrically insulating pivots 14 and eachspacing element 13A-D comprises a heat resistant electrically insulatinghead, which is suitably made of a ceramic material.

The spacing elements 13A-D may be provided with pyrometric and/orcompression sensitive sensors which are able to detect the temperatureof each pipe end 12A-B during the heat up phase and also the location ofthe pipe end 12A-B relative to the spacing element 3 and the compressiveforce applied by the pipe ends 12A-B to the spacing element 13. Thecompression sensitive sensors may comprise piezoelectric elements whichare located close to the pipe ends 12A, 12B or at a selected distancetherefrom such that the time difference between the transmitted andreflected vibrations is used to assess the contact point(s) andcompression forces between the spacing elements 13A-D and the pipe ends12A, 12B.

The sensors may be coupled to a welding control assembly as shown inFIG. 1 which pulls out the spacing elements 13 from the spacing if thepipe ends 12A,B have reached a selected temperature which may be belowor substantially equal to the temperature required for forge welding.The spacing elements 13A-D may furthermore be equipped with channelsthrough which a reducing non-explosive shield gas is injected towardsthe heated pipe ends. The non-explosive shield gas suitably comprisesmore than 90% by volume of nitrogen and more than 2% by volume ofhydrogen.

Accurate positioning of the tubular ends relative to each other duringthe heat-up and forge welding operation is important to obtain a highwelding quality and minimal upsets in the welding zone.

It may be beneficial to provide the tubular ends with locking andorienting grooves that fit into profiled gripping arms of the automatedforge welding tool.

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show a tubular end 20 that is provided with three pairsof semi-circular grooves 21-23A-B. The automated welding tool may beequipped with semi-circular gripping arms which have profiles and/orballs that fit into the semi-circular grooves 21-23A-B such that therisk of slipping of the tubular end 20 through the gripping arms isminimized, even if a tubular string of several kilometers long issuspended into a well from the tubular end 20.

The method according to the invention may be employed to join tubularsections by forge welding to a tubular string of any length. The tubularstring may be a string of oilfield tubulars, such as an oil and/or gaswell casing, a production tubing that is suspended in an oil and/or gaswell, a vertical or catenary steel riser extending between an offshoreplatform deck and the seabed, a tubular leg of an offshore structure, atubular tensioned leg, known as a tendon, of a floating tension legplatform, or a subsea or an onshore underground or above-ground pipelinefor transport of fluids.

During the heat-up and forge welding operation the interior of thetubular ends that are to be joined may be sealed off from other parts ofthe interior of the tubular string by inserting a mandrel or spear intothe interior of the tubulars in the welding zone, which mandrel or spearmay be provided with expandable sealing rings, shield gas injectionmeans and/or weld inspection means, such as electromagnetic acoustictransducers, known as EMAT weld inspection equipment. Alternatively theinterior of the tubulars adjacent to the welding zone may be sealed offduring the forge welding operation by injecting an expanding rigid foam,such as polyurethane foam, into the tubulars, which foam is removed fromthe interior of the tubulars after the forge welding operation.

The tubular ends that are to be joined by forge welding may be machinedinto complementary concave and convex shapes in a pipe manufacturingplant or by a machining tool at or near the automated forge weldingtool.

The tubular ends may be protected during transport from themanufacturing plant to the forge welding site by metal or plastic capsthat may be equipped with expandable gripping profiles or balls that mayfit into the locking grooves shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6.

The automated forge welding device according to the invention may becombined with a pipe manipulation device on an oil and/or gas drillingor production rig which is known as the iron roughneck. The pipemanipulation device may be equipped with gripping arms and/orlow-scarring dies and/or balls which grab the tubulars internally and/orexternally.

The tubular weld inspection method may include arranging a series ofelectromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) assemblies in circumferentialdirection adjacent to an inner and/or outer surface of at least one ofthe welded tubular ends and inducing the EMAT assemblies to transmitsequentially (ie. individually or grouped) or simultaneously acousticshear wave signals in different modes and angles towards the weld and todetect the shear waves reflected by and/or passing through the weld suchthat at least a substantial part of the weld is scanned by the EMATassemblies and wherein the EMAT assemblies are maintained at asubstantially fixed position relative to the weld during the scanningoperation.

Use of EMAT assemblies that are maintained at a substantially fixedposition relative to the weld during the scanning operation enablesinstant weld inspection after the weld has been made and thus enablessignificantly faster weld inspection that with currently known EMATinspection tools where the EMAT assemblies are moved relative to theweld during the weld scanning process as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.4,184,374; U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,082 and patent application WO96/02831.

The EMAT assemblies may include a ring shaped assembly ofcircumferentially spaced EMAT transmitters and a ring shaped assembly ofcircumferentially spaced EMAT receivers, which is arranged between theweld and the ring shaped assembly of EMAT transmitters.

The EMAT assemblies may also include ring shaped assemblies of EMATtransmitter and receiver assemblies at both sides of the weld when seenin longitudinal direction of the welded tubulars.

Each of the EMAT transmitter and receiver assemblies may include amatrix of EMAT transducers which at least partly overlap each other in acircumferential direction so that the entire length of the weld can beinspected instantly after the welding operation by a stationary array ofEMAT transmitters which each transmit shear waves into a segment of thepipe wall that tends to be narrower that the width of the EMATtransmitter itself.

The EMAT transducers of at least one matrix may be stacked on top ofeach other in a radial direction relative to the tube wall.Alternatively, the EMAT transducers of at least one matrix are staggeredin a substantially longitudinal direction relative to the tube wall.

In an embodiment, the EMAT assembly is arranged on a carrier body, whichis arranged in the interior of at least one of the welded tubulars. Thisembodiment of the EMAT assembly can also be used for inspection of weldsin-situ, e.g. downhole, or in laying barge pipelines, either immediatelyafter welding or some time later, e.g. to inspect the quality of thewelds after several years service.

In an alternative embodiment the EMAT assembly is arranged on a carriersleeve which surrounds at least one of the welded tubulars and which canoptionally be split into at least two sleeve segments after completionof the welding operation. This embodiment can also be used forinspection of welds in-situ, e.g. at the rig floor or in laying bargepipelines.

The EMAT tubular weld inspection method and assembly is able to inspectthe quality of forge-welded tubulars instantly after the forge weld hasbeen made.

The EMAT assembly according to the invention comprises a series ofelectromagnetic acoustic transducers which are in use distributed in acircumferential direction adjacent to an inner and/or outer surface ofat least one of the welded tubular ends and are configured to transmitsequentially or simultaneously acoustic shear wave signals in differentmodes and angles towards the weld and to detect the shear wavesreflected by and/or passing through the weld such that at least asubstantial part of the weld is scanned by the EMAT assembly.

In an embodiment, the assembly comprises at least two longitudinallyspaced ring shaped arrays of EMAT transmitters and receivers such thatthe ring shaped arrays of EMAT receivers are located between the ringshaped arrays of EMAT transmitters.

The traditional method of connecting lengths of OCTG (Oil CountryTubular Goods), whether they are for downhole casing or tubing, is touse a threaded connection or another form of joining based on a suitablewelding technique like explosive welding, shielded active gas welding,flash butt welding, etc.

In the case of welding, the presence of certain defects will reduce thestrength and thus the structural integrity of the downhole oil or gastubular. Therefore, proper inspection of the weld for flaws or otherirregularities is desirable. It is preferred to inspect the weldimmediately after the weld is made using a non-destructive testtechnique.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 8, at the rig-floor the tubulars 101 may bekept aligned in an upright and fixed position during welding using pipegrippers 104. After inspection and approval of the weld quality thetubular 101 is lowered in to the wellbore, and another piece of tubingor casing (minimal length preferably about 10 meters) is positioned ontop of it and welded, etc. To minimise the loss of rig-time and toenhance safety at the rig-floor, it is preferred to perform theinspection of the weld in a fully automatic way, starting immediatelyafter the weld is made and completed in a minimum of time. For wellintegrity reasons it is preferable to inspect the weld over its fulllength along the circumference of the pipe.

At present, a range of well known technologies are available forinspection of butt welds in tubes and pipes, based on x-ray, ultrasonicinspection techniques, EMAT, eddy current inspection and their derivitetechniques as SLOFEC, remote field eddy current, partial saturated eddycurrent, etc.

Inspection of tubulars intended for use in downhole environmentspresents challenges that disqualify many techniques and/orconfigurations. These challenges include a desire for:

-   a. rapid completion of testing on relatively poorly prepared    surfaces, with the weld still hot.-   b. fully automatic operation of the testing equipment.-   c. immediate feedback to allow assessment for acceptance or    rejection of the weld.-   d. integration with the welding device-   e. safe operation in a potentially hazardous environment.

Some embodiments of the present invention enable the use of EMAT weldinspection technology at the rig-floor.

EMAT (electromagnetic acoustic transducer) inspection is a knowninspection technique, in which interaction between a magnetic andelectromagnetic field induces acoustic energy in the test piece. Thegenerated acoustic wave is reflected by anomalies or defects and can bedetected by a suitable receiver. The receiver can be either aconventional piezo-electric transducer or an EMAT. To validate themagnetic coupling of the transmitting EMAT a receiver on the other sideof the weld can be applied as a transmission check.

In this case the relative strength of this energy is altered by thepresence of defects and is used to identify defects.

Transmission and receiver EMAT assemblies may be used which aremaintained in a stationary position relative to the weld and are suitedto inspection of forge-welded pipes instantly after the forge weldingoperation. To ensure correct and accurate positioning of the EMATprobes, a novel design has been made where stationary EMAT assembliesare configured to scan the entire length of the weld that allowsintegration into the forge-welding machine or into the internal spearused for the alignment of the tubulars while welded together.

The external non-destructive weld testing apparatus shown in FIGS. 7 and8 include two EMAT probes 107, 108. The EMAT probes 107, 108 may bepositioned either above the weld 106, below the weld 106 or, preferably,above and below the weld 106 and that they are in close proximity(typically no more than 2 mm from) the pipe wall. Each EMAT probecomprises a series of circumferentially distributed EMAT transmitter andreceiver assemblies 107 a, 107 b, 108 a, 108 b. In each assembly thereceiver 108 a, 108 b is positioned adjacent to the transmitter 107 a,107 b but between the transmitter 108 a, 108 b and the weld 106. Thestationary EMAT probes can be integrated into the external gas shieldchamber 103 of the forge-welding machine (FIG. 7) or into the internalspear 125 (FIG. 8).

The stationary EMAT probe 107, 108 is ring-shaped as shown in FIGS. 7 aand 7 b and is segmented into at least two parts as illustrated in FIG.7 a. During the whole welding and inspection operation, the pipes 101are kept in a fixed position, they cannot rotate, using pipe grippers104. The gas shield chamber 103 of the forge-welding machine is closedduring that time and surrounds the electrodes 102 that are pressedagainst the pipes 101 before the forge operation to heat the pipe endsthat are to be forge welded together.

Control electronics, pre-amplifiers, signal pre-processors etc. may belocated close to the electromagnets and the EMAT transmitter andreceiver coils T/R in printed circuits 116. Active cooling for theelectromagnets is also provided by flushing shield gas into the chamber103, as illustrated by arrows 105.

In use, each R/T pair 108 a, 107 a, 108 b, 107 b may be activated andcontrolled by an electronic switch box in printed circuit 116. A signalmay be generated by each of the transmitters 107 a, 107 b, etc. andtransmitted via the pipe 101 toward the weld 106, the adjacent receiver108 detects this signal for calibration purposes and the signalcontinues to propagate toward the weld 106. If there is a defect in theweld 106 then the signal is reflected back toward the transmitter 107 a,107 b whereupon the receiver 108 a, 108 b will detect it and report adefect.

When applied together with the forge-welding machine as illustrated inFIGS. 7 a and b the EMAT probes 107, 108 are automatically centredaround the pipe wall 101, using a spring system 109, when the gas shieldchamber 103 may be closed. The surfaces 113 a-b, 114 a-b of the EMATtransmitters and receivers 107 a-b, 108 a-b are protected by a thin film112, typically a 0.1 mm metal thick metal film although other wearresistant materials can be employed.

FIG. 8 depicts EMAT probes which are mounted on an internal spear 125for e.g. forge welding. In this embodiment the EMAT inspection probes107, 108 comprise a series of circumferentially spaced pairs of EMATtransmitters 107 c and 107 d and EMAT receivers 108 c, 108 d at eachside of the weld 106. Provision is made in the spear 125 for thepermanent or electromagnets required for EMAT inspection and a suitablepower supply, electronic switching box and data umbilical may beprovided.

In one embodiment, the spear 125 is pre-positioned in one of the pipes101 to be welded. This allows inspection probes to be in good contactwith the pipe wall without a drift requirement and can be accomplishedby using a simple backing material such as a foam rubber. Where theinspection device needs to be drifted into position then the EMAT probeassemblies 107 c-d, 108 c-d are positioned against the pipe 101 using anactivation method of which there are several possibilities.

The EMAT probe assemblies 107, 108 are stand-by during the weldingoperation and start the inspection immediately after the welding processis completed and the local temperature of the weld is low enough, e.g.700° C.

An almost identical configuration can be used in a pipe inspection pigor logging device for inspection of welds in-situ, e.g. downhole or inpipelines at or near the earth surface to inspect the quality of thewelds after several years service.

FIG. 8 illustrates the benefits of the use of a second series of EMATreceivers e.g. R2 on the opposite side of the weld 106 to thetransmitters, e.g. T1 in addition to the conventional use of a firstseries of EMAT receivers R1 at the same side of the weld 106 as thetransmitters T1. In the event that there is no defect present in theweld 106 this second series of matching receivers R2 will detect astrong signal when the signal has passed through the weld. If thissecond series of receivers R2 is not present then a larger degree ofuncertainty exists with regard to defect sizing because reflectedsignals may scatter and be lost, in which case the size of a defect inthe weld 106 may be incorrectly/misleadingly reported.

Besides validation, the symmetrical configuration of transmitters andreceivers T1,2 and R1,2 at both sides of the weld 106 provides means forgain control of the receiving coil e.g. R1. A further advantage of thesymmetrical transmitter and receiver configuration T1,2 and R1,2 is thatit enables the EMAT system to be operated in different modes. Forexample, by altering the relative angle between the pipe, magnetic andelectromagnetic field it is possible to cause the steel to vibrate injust any direction. One of the advantages of this is that it allows thefull body of the pipe wall to be “vibrated” and for the full bodyvibration to travel along the pipe parallel to the pipe wall. Thisprevents ‘skipping’ as indicated in FIG. 8 and improves thesignal-to-noise ratio significantly. The same process is repeated fortransmitter T2 thus giving redundancy to the entire configuration.

Reference is made to FIGS. 10 a and b, which depict EMAT transducer andreceiver probes 107, 108 that are composed of a set of laminatedelectromagnets 117, which may be controlled individually, in groups orall at the same time. The individual electromagnets 117 are separatedform each other by a thin spacer 118. In the preferred embodimentillustrated in FIG. 10 b the individual electromagnets 117 can be puttogether with legoland type connections 117 a. This construction enablesthe EMAT probe assemblies 107, 108 to be re-configured for differentpipe diameters. The ends of the EMAT probes 107, 108 are covered with asuitable face protection material 115, e.g. Vespel, to prevent damagingand fouling of the transducer and receiver assemblies. At this location(on both sides) the flexible transducer and receiver coils 113 a, 114 acan move freely to adapt to diameter changes. The EMAT probe assemblies107, 108 are separated by means of another dielectric spacer 111. Thetransducer and receiver coils 113 a, 114 a are placed inside a recessedarea or at the surface of the electromagnet elements.

Reference is made to FIG. 10 c. An electrostatic shield 122 is used tosafeguard the EMAT receiver coil 114 from the effects of undesirableelectric interference. The electrostatic shield, e.g. mu-metal,grounded, acts as a barrier to protect the EMAT receiver coil 114 fromelectrostatic interference and radio frequency interference (EMI/RFI).

Reference is made to FIGS. 10 d and 10 e. Here the means are disclosedby whom to create a focal area (aperture) of the ultrasonic wave 121that has an identical size as one or more of the electromagnet elements117. One or more (could even be all) electromagnet elements 117 can bemagnetised thus forming a larger magnetic field than from one singleelectromagnet element 117. The electromagnet elements 117 can beswitched on and off individually, in groups or all at the same time,using the control electronics in an electric current 116 as illustratedin FIG. 7.

Reference is made to FIG. 11. Using novel design, use and control ofmeander-loop coils elements 123 provide the option to select differentmodes of operation and transmission angles of the ultrasonic wave,allowing a full inspection of the entire weld all around thecircumference of the pipe.

Within the ring of electromagnets a transmitting or receiving coil 113,114 is present as illustrated in FIG. 11 a, which can be a length ofwire or build up out of separate meander-loop coil elements asillustrated in FIG. 11 b. The transmitting or receiving coil elements113, 114 can be controlled separately to obtain either one largemeander-loop as shown in FIG. 11 c or a phased array to generate anangled ultrasonic wave as shown in FIG. 11 d. The receiver coil elements123 are equipped with suitable pre-amplifiers 124. They can be processedseparately or combined using the control electronics in 116.

Furthermore, by introducing small coil elements 123 a number ofadditional different configurations illustrated in FIG. 11 e, 11 f, 11g, 11 h can be created for different inspection purposes.

Basic configurations are:

-   -   (I)a long meander loop coil (i.e. circumferential direction) as        illustrated in FIG. 11 f,    -   (II)a short meander loop coil (i.e. radial direction) using a        single layer of coils as illustrated in FIG. 11 g.    -   (III)two or more staggered layers as illustrated in FIG. 11 h of        can be used to create an improved coverage, additional depth        direction and better signal-to-noise ratio. The overall        thickness of the staggered layers should be small, in the order        of 1 mm.

Variations are possible.

An embodiment includes sandwiching two or more layers of flexible probearound the full circumference of the pipe. An alternative embodimentwould have the layers of EMAT probes positioned in a similar staggeredpattern but with one layer above the other. The transmitter and receivercoils may be put on a flexible carrier or substrate, which can beexchanged readily at the rig-floor.

An embodiment of the present invention includes shaping the tubular endsthat are to be welded together into a sloping configuration such thatwhen the tubular ends are heated during the forge welding process theheated tubular ends deform as a result of thermal expansion into asubstantially longitudinally oriented cylindrical shape.

In addition the portion of each pipe that is to be forged may be reducedin cross section such that deformation during forging returns it to adimension substantially the same as its original thickness.

The precise angles and dimensions of the end preparation depend on thematerial being joined and its coefficient(s) of expansion, wallthickness, pipe diameter, degree of heat required for welding, the widthof the heated zone and the desired forge length. Typical values areprovided in Table 1 below for carbon steel tubes approximately 4 mm wallthickness and 70 mm diameter.

The sloping angle of the inner and/or outer walls of the tubular endsmay be selected such that the ratio between the average diameter D(t) ofthe tip of the tubular end and the average diameter D(b) of the base ofthe tubular end is related to an estimated temperature differencebetween said tip and base of the tubular end during the forge weldingprocess and a thermal expansion co-efficient of the steel grade(s) ofthe tubular end.

For many forge welding operations said ratio D(t)/D(b) may be selectedbetween 0.8 and 0.99.

To increase the surface of the forge welded pipe ends and tosimultaneously assist alignment of the pipe ends the end face of one ofthe tubular ends that are to be welded together may a substantiallyconvex shape and the end face of the other tubular end may have asubstantially concave shape.

The forge welded tubulars may comprise a low grade steel base pipe and ahigher grade steel cladding on the inner and/or outer surface of thebase pipe. In such case it is preferred that the end faces are shapedsuch that when the tubular ends are pressed together the end faces ofthe cladding(s) touch each other first the end faces of the base pipeends subsequently touch each other. It is also preferred that anynon-oxidising or reducing flush gas is introduced from the opposite sideof the pipe wall to the clad layer.

The inwardly tapered tubular end may have a large variety of shapes, andthat the inward deflection may be determined by iterative calculationand/or experiments in order to asses that the amount of upset of theforge welded tubulars is reduced to a minimum.

The amount of material at the pipe ends deformed by forging is closelycontrolled to further minimise upset.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,650 discloses a forge welding process wherein theouter walls of the tubular ends are machined away to a greater depththat the inner walls of the tubular ends. The known configuration is,however, not configured such that the heated tubular ends aresubstantially cylindrical during the forge welding operation.

In FIG. 12,a pair of heated axially aligned pipe ends is shown and inFIG. 13 the unheated ends are shown, wherein X is the inward slopingangle, 201=pipe having original wall thickness, 202=minimum forge lengthrequired to complete the weld, 203, 205, 206=typical radii of convexpipe end 209, 204=first contact shoulder, 207=pipe end having reducedwall thickness, 208=pipe center line and 210=concave pipe end. Thesloping angles x of the unheated convex and concave pipe ends 209, 210illustrated in FIG. 12 are selected such that the heated pipe endsaccurately intermesh and are accurately axially aligned as illustratedsuch that a seamless forge weld is created when the pipe ends 209 and210 are pressed together and only minimal upsets are formed at the innerand outer surfaces of the pipes 201 in the region of the forge weldedjoint.

An outline of the dimensions of the pipe connection shown in FIGS. 12and 13 is described in Table 1: TABLE 1 Typical values for forge weldingweld preparation - 4 mm WT, 70 mm OD pipe Identifier (see FIG. 1)Description Typical Value X Inward sloping 1 to 5°. angle 1 Originalwall   4 mm thickness 3, 5, 6 Preparation radii  0.6 mm 2 Minimum forge0.05 mm length 7 Reduced wall   3 mm thickness 8 Pipe centre line 4First contact shoulder

Referring now to FIG. 14 there is shown an upper tubular 211 and a lowertubular 212 which each comprise a low grade steel base pipe have aninner cladding of high chromium steel 213.

The tubular ends 214 and 215 are wedge shaped such that the tips of thewedge shaped ends are formed by the claddings 213. This ensures thatwhen the tubular ends are pressed against each other the claddings 213touch each other before the ends of the base pipes touch each other.

Throughout the forge welding operation a flushing gas is flushed aroundthe tubular ends 214 and 215 and to ensure continuation of the flushingbetween the tubular ends 214 and 215 after the claddings 213 touch eachother, flushing gas is injected onto the uncladded outer surfaces of thetubulars 211 and 212.

FIG. 15 a depicts an embodiment where the lower end surface 226 of theupper tubular 220 has a generally concave shape and the upper endsurface 223 of the lower tubular 221 has a generally convex shape.

The inner surface of the tubulars 220 and 221 may be cladded with astainless steel lining 224 and 225 and the concave and convex endsurfaces 223, 226 may be shaped such that the linings 224 and 225 toucheach other first and that the base pipes 220, 221 touch each otherthereafter and that the unheated end surfaces 223, 226 are inwardlyoriented at a sloping angle X. In this case a reducing non-explosiveflushing gas is injected from the exterior of the tubulars and thetubular ends still form a wedge such that the touching zone graduallyincreases from the outer surface towards the inner surface of the forgewelded tubulars. In this way a good bond between the linings 224, 225 isproduced and inclusion of oxides between the forge welded tubulars 220and 221 is minimized.

FIG. 15 b illustrates a forge welded joint of a pair of low grade steelbase pipes 233, 234 of which the outer surface is cladded with astainless steel lining 230, 231 and of which the end surfaces 235, 236have an intermeshing convex and concave shape such that the unheated endsurfaces 235, 236 are inwardly oriented at a sloping angle X and thatthe stainless steel linings 230, 231 touch each other before the basepipes 233, 234 touch each other when the end surfaces 235, 236 areheated and pressed together during the forge welding operation. In thiscase a reducing gas is injected from the interior side 244 of thetubulars during the forge welding operation.

FIG. 16 depicts a tapered wedge shaped end 240 of a pipe 241 that hasbeen clad with a clad layer 243 and where further material 242compatible with the clad layer 243 has been deposited around the end ofthe pipe 202 to allow further machining without exposing the base pipe241. The inward sloping angle X of the tapered end 240 may be selectedsuch that the heated pipe ends are substantially axially aligned and thetaper angle is selected such that the clad layers 243 of adjacent pipeends touch each other first before the base pipes touch each otherduring a forge welding operation.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the invention includesan improved method for forge welding of heavy duty tubulars such that awelded connection of high strength and quality is obtained.

Heavy duty tubulars may be formed by oilfield, well and/or othertubulars which are in use subject to high mechanical and/or thermalstresses as a result of their use in an irregular borehole or hostileon- or offshore environment. Thus the heavy duty tubulars may frequentlybe subject to large radial, tangential and/or shear stresses which causea high elastic, plastic and/or pseudo plastic deformation of the tubularwall and any tubular joints. The heavy duty tubulars may be tubularswhich are expanded downhole to a larger diameter and plasticallydeformed during the expansion process, drill pipes which may be 10kilometers long and twisted over 30 times of the pipe circumference as aresult of the torque transmitted to the drill bit and friction betweenthe drill pipe and the irregular borehole wall or heater well casings,steam injection and/or other heater pipes which are subject to highthermal expansion and may be squeezed by the thermal expansion of thesurrounding formation and/or subsidence during the productionoperations.

In accordance with this embodiment of the present invention there isprovided an improved method of joining heavy duty tubulars, the methodcomprising joining the tubulars by forge welding and flushing a reducingflushing gas around the heated tubular ends during at least part of theforge welding operation such that oxides are removed from the forgewelded tubular ends and the amount of oxide inclusions andirregularities between the forge welded tubular ends is limited, whereinthe tubular ends have a non-planar shape.

The tubular ends may have in circumferential direction a complementaryteethed sinusoidal shape in order to alleviate forces to the forgewelded tubular ends during use of the heavy-duty tubular string. Theintermeshing teethed or sinusoidal ends may be pressed against eachother during the forge welding operation by moving the tubular ends in alongitudinal direction towards each other during the welding process,whilst the circumferential orientation of the tubular ends is controlledsuch that along the entire circumference a gap of a substantiallyconstant width is present during the heat up phase.

The non-planar shaped tubular ends preferably have a regularintermeshing sinusoidal or teethed shape in order to inhibit inparticular shear stresses on the forge welded joint when the tubularstring is twisted and/or radially expanded, while the tubular string isrotated and/or radially stretched in a cavity, such as an undergroundborehole.

In such case the tubular ends may be heated by passing a high frequencycurrent in circumferential direction through the tubular walls near thetubular ends that are to be joined and wherein the presence of coldspots along the circumference of the heated tubular ends is reduced byarranging a series of longitudinal ferrite bars around the outer surfaceof the tubular ends and/or within the interior thereof. Furthermore thetubular ends may be heated by passing high frequency electrical currentthrough the tubular ends by means of a series of electrodes which arepressed against the inner and/of outer surface of the tubular endadjacent to the tips of the teeth and/or sinusoidal end faces.

The heavy duty tubular string may be a casing while drilling string,which carries a drill bit while drilling the hole and which remains inthe borehole in an expanded or unexpanded configuration after completionof the drilling process.

The tubulars may also be joined downhole by forge welding after a tubeexpansion operation wherein a spear is inserted into the region of thetubular ends which then heats the tubular end to a forge weldingtemperature and presses them together the spear flushes a reducingflushing gas around the heated tubular ends during at least part of theforge welding operation.

In such case the ends of the tubulars may at least partly overlap eachother and the spear and or other forge welding device is inserted intothe inner tubular which heats up the tubular end, flushes a reducingflushing gas into any gap remaining between the overlapping tubular endsand which subsequently presses the outer surface of the heated end ofthe inner tubular against the inner surface of the outer tubular to joinsaid tubular ends by forge welding.

In such case the partially overlapping tubular ends are teethed or havea complementary sinusoidal shape in order to alleviate the presence ofabrupt stress variations to the forge welded expanded tubular ends whenthe tubular string is bent, compressed and/or otherwise deformed.

As illustrated in FIG. 17 welding of the teethed ends 303 of adjacentpipes 301, 302 together along the length of the contour of theintermeshing non-planar teethed ends 303 which are rotation symmetricalrelative to a longitudional axis 310 of the pipes 301, 302 provides atotal length of the weld which is larger than the total circumferentiallength of the pipes and thereby reduces the loading of the weld comparedto that of the pipe body.

In FIG. 18 the non-planar ends 306 of two adjacent pipe sections 304 and305 have an in circumferential direction sinusoidal shape, which isrotation symmetrical relative to a longitudinal axis 311 of the pipesections 304 and 305.

FIG. 19 shows two pipe ends 307 and 308 that are partly overlapping. Theinner pipe end 308 is provided with a non-planar rotation symmetricalsinusoidal end face 309 in contact with the outer pipe 307, whereas theouter pipe 307 has a non-planar rotation symmetrical sinusoidal end face312 in contact with the inner pipe 308. Welding of the pipes 307 and 308together along the length of the overlapping pipe sections 313 betweenthe non-planar end faces 309 and 312 yields a weld length that is largerthan the length of the circumference of the pipes and thereby reducesthe loading of the weld compared to that of the pipe bodies. Inaddition, this configuration yields a gradual transfer of the loadingfrom one pipe body to the other pipe body and supports the mitigation ofstress concentrations in the overlap zone of the pipes when the pipesare twisted by torsional forces and/or bent and/or radially expanded.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention the tubular ends areheated to a predetermined temperature above 1200 degrees Celsius andsurrounded by a hydrogen containing shield gas when the tubular ends arepressed together, whereupon the forge welded tubular ends are cooleddown rapidly from said temperature above 1200 to at most 600 degreesCelsius within 3 minutes after the forge welding operation.

Optionally, the forge welded tubulars comprise a high carbon steel gradeand are cooled down from above 1200 to at most 600 degrees Celsiuswithin one minute after the forge welding operation.

The forge welded tubulars may be cooled by flushing the tubular endswith cold liquid nitrogen, helium, argon or liquid carbon dioxide.

The forge welding method may be used to join a large variety of steelsand alloys including stainless steels and pipeline steels. The methodaccording to the invention is particularly suitable for joining oilcountry tubular goods (OCTGs) for which controlled cooling and/or postweld heat treatment is often required to be done at remote locations.OCTGs are generally made of a group of steels that are sutiable for useas dwnhole well casings and production tubings in the oil industry andare specified by international standard ISO 11960 and American standardAPI 5CT. With the exceptions of two grades, which contain significantquantities of chromium, these materials are carbon steels.

Historically OCTG materials have been joined using threaded couplingsand this has avoided any requirement for them to be welded. As aconsequence high strength OCTG materials contain relatively high levelsof carbon and manganese and are considered “unweldable” usingtraditional fusion welding technology. However the materials can bewelded using forge-welding techniques such as shielded active gas,friction welding and flash butt welding, because these are solid-stateprocesses in which joining occurs at relatively low temperatures.

Unfortunately the metallurgy of high carbon steel grades requires thatspecial steps are often necessary to allow the best combination ofproperties to develop after forge welding, particularly with respect toimpact properties. In general a controlled rapid cool down of the weldedtubular ends will minimize the heat affected zone and will ensure thatacceptable properties are achieved following forge welding.

In addition a particular requirement has been identified for thosewelding techniques that take place in dry reducing gas or gas mixtures(eg. shielded active gas forge welding) to ensure that the welding areais kept free of water and heavy hydrocarbons. This limits the use oftraditional water and oil based cooling quenching fluids in theparticular application and requires alternative quenching media.

When high carbon steels are cooled from the fully austenitic state (eg.the welding temperature) in air they are inclined to adopt a structureconsisting of martensite with a small amount of relatively brittlebainite. This can lead to acceptable bend and strength characteristicsbut low impact resistance. To avoid formation of any relatively brittlephases it is necessary to rapidly cool the steel from a fully austeniticstructure (typically 900-700° Celsius depending on the steel being used)to approximately 300° Celsius within a short time, typically 1 minute.

During manufacture of OCTGs containing high levels of carbon it isstandard practice to improve mechanical properties by heating into thefully austenitic region and quenching into a forced circulating waterbath to obtain a fully martensitic structure. This treatment is followedby heating at approximately 600° Celsius for a predetermined amount oftime, often several hours, to produce a tempered martensitic structurewith appropriate, acceptable mechanical properties. This process iscalled quenching and tempering (Q&T).

In an embodiment of the present invention, the problem is solved of theheat treatment requirements and equipment for producing forge welds inhigh strength high carbon OCTG steels with acceptable impact properties.Several embodiments of an internal spear that is inserted into theinterior of the tubulars in the welding zone may be used to control thecool down process of the forge welded tubular ends depending on thesteel grades of the tubulars and the particular circumstance of theweld.

In addition the internal spear may be utilized for a variety of otherfunctions, such as alignment of the tubulars, sealing off the interiorof the tubulars in the welding zone and control of the quality of theforge weld by an electromagnetic acoustic transmission (EMAT) or otherautomated weld inspection technique.

Water, water based, oil and oil based quench media may be used withforge welding techniques such as flash butt welding and various means offriction welding which do not require a dry welding environment. Inspecific applications, such as on a rig, conventional oil field fluidssuch as mud and brine may also be used as quenching media.

With processes where a dry environment is needed these media may also beused provided quenching is carried out internally. However with a wallthickness in excess of approximately 5 mm, when external quenching isalso required, they are not ideal because they may slow down the weldingprocess while the area is allowed to dry or require a second station toavoid contamination of the weld station or require a self containedquenching facility to prevent contamination of the welding area and thismay be complex to construct. In order to avoid these drawbacksalternative safe quench media may be used. These include helium,nitrogen, argon and other non-flammable, volatile mixtures that willevaporate quickly following use or various combinations of these.

In its simplest variant, in-situ quenching of welds can take placeexternally using a portable collar 407A, 407B as indicated in FIG. 20using quench media, such as liquid nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide or anaqueous liquid. The collar 407A, 407B shown in FIG. 20 is manufacturedwith a hinged fastening 403 and an inside diameter to match a particularpipe outer diameter (OD). The collar 407A, 407B thus forms a split ringwhich, when closed, will fully encircle the welded area of pipe andfasten around it using the fastener 401. In operation the welded area isfully encircled with the split ring that is fastened with 401, a supplyof quench media is available through the supply hose 404 and is releasedinto the interior of the split ring collar 407A, 407B by opening thevalve 402. Quench media circulates through the split ring collar 407A,407B until it reaches the baffle 405 whereupon it exits via a drain hole406.

This split ring collar 407A, 407B is applied and quenching started, assoon as possible after welding and, in any event, before the weld areacan cool below the austenising temperature of the steel being joined(typically 900 to 700° Celsius depending on carbon content).

The split ring collar 407A, 407B may be integrated into a gas shieldingchamber or hood into which a reducing shield gas comprising about 95 vol% nitrogen and about 5 vol % hydrogen may be injected during the forgewelding operation or integrated with the heating mechanism with littlemodification.

For thicker wall tubes, where the cooling rate may vary significantlythrough the wall, external quenching may need to be used in conjunctionwith internal quenching using an internal spear 430 as illustrated inFIG. 21. This is principally dependant on the metallurgy of the steel inquestion, particularly carbon content, and the quench media employed.For standard OCTG materials through-wall cooling to approximately 300°C. is preferably be done in approximately 1 minute.

For certain applications, such as thin wall tube and low carbon steel itis possible to quench the steel from a fully austenitic structure tofully martensitic using an internal spear 30 as shown in FIG. 21 as analternative to external quenching as shown in FIG. 20. Further, forthicker steel sections and higher carbons steels it is necessary to usea combination of internal and external quenching to ensure even andrapid cooling across the pipe wall.

The spear 430 is inserted into the interior of an upper pipe 415 and alower pipe 425 in the region of the forge welded pipe ends 419.

The spear 430 may comprise a number of elements which may be usedconjointly or in isolation. The major elements of the spear 430 shown inFIG. 21 are a support cable string 427 for deployment and retrieval anddata and power lines, shield and/or cooling fluid supply and dischargehoses 408, 409 hydraulic fluid supply and discharge hoses 410, 411,expandable gripping elements 412, 426, compression elements 413, 424 todraw the upper and lower sections of the spear 430 together and provideaxial forge force, EMAT inspection probe assemblies 414, 422, inflatablegas sealing elements 416, 422 to allow isolation of weld area 419 toflush with a non-oxidising and/or reducing shield gas, outlet nozzles417 for flushing gas and/or cooling fluid from inside of pipe and returnnozzles 418 for shield gas and/or cooling fluid. The internal spear 430incorporates ferrite bars 420 to provide additional control for highfrequency current and induction heating, and an induction coil 423 forprovision of heat for forge and/or post weld heat treatment.

It should be noted that not all of these elements may need to appear inevery spear 430 but that any combination of the elements described aboveis possible. In addition, alternative-heating elements incorporatingpairs of contacts positioned above and below the weld area 419 forheating using eg. resistance are also options.

With some forms of forge welding the internal spear will requireadditional detailing to facilitate objectives such as provision offlushing gas, alignment, pressure isolation, to influence heating etc inaddition to the requirement to supply quench media. These are describedin more detail below.

The internal spear 430 may be used horizontally, for pipelines/pipework,or vertically inside a well casing and tubing. It may be positioned inthe upper pipe 415 before the pipe 415 is moved on top of the lower pipe425 into position for welding or inserted into the interior of thealigned pipes 415, 425 immediately prior to welding.

The spear 430 is suspended from a supporting cable string 427, forinsertion and retrieval. The spear 430 runs through the upper pipe 415to be welded. One end of the fluid supply and discharge hoses 408, 409terminates outside of the upper pipe 415 at a station that providescooling and/or shield gas media through a pump; the other end isfastened inside a cylindrical housing of the spear 430 which, for someforms of forge welding, such as shielded active gas and flash buttwelding, is required to be non-metallic. The spear 430 is sized to driftthrough the pipes 415, 425 being joined. The spear 430 has preferablyabout equally spaced cooling nozzles 418 embedded around the tubular'scentral portion in which the ferrite bars 420 are embedded. The numberand size of nozzles 418 is dependent on the size of the housing, whichis determined by the internal diameter ID of the pipes 415, 425 beingjoined, the cooling media and pump capacity.

The gripping elements 412, 426 on both sides of the spear 430 ensurethat it remains approximately equidistant from the pipe walls.

Immediately after the forge weld has been made, quench media is pumpedthrough the supply hose 408 and out through the nozzles 418 to cool thewelding zone 419 rapidly. If necessary this is done simultaneously withexternal quenching by means of the split collar 407A, 407B shown in FIG.20.

The spear 430 may fulfill several functions when used in conjunctionwith a number of forge welding processes, such as provision of flushinggas to improve weld quality and optional low pressure sealing ability toisolate the weld area and subsequent provision of quenching media toimprove mechanical properties

The flushing gas may be a non-oxidising or non-explosive reducing gascomprising about 95 vol % Nitrogen and about 5 vol % hydrogen.Non-oxidizing gases may be required when using flash butt welding,induction heated forge welding, friction welding or a combination ofthese methods such as thermo-kinetic welding for example. A reducing gasor gas mixture may be required when using shielded active gas forgewelding or induction heated forge welding for example.

The ferrite bars 420 serve to improve the heating effect of inductionand resistance/induction heating

The split external cooling collar 407A, 407B shown in FIG. 20 and theinternal spear 430 shown in FIG. 21 are appropriate to a range ofwelding processes such as friction welding, flash butt welding, shieldedactive gas welding etc. whenever post weld heat treatment is required.Heating for tempering purposes may be carried out from inside the pipe,from outside the pipe or in combination. Combined heating may beparticularly effective in the case of thick wall pipe (pipe wallthickness approximately >5 mm).

Whenever tempering is carried out in a hazardous area it is necessary toensure compliance with safety conditions. This may be accomplished usinga variety of well-known techniques such as provision of a non-flammableblanket gas and a double walled hermetically sealed explosion resistantshield gas chamber.

The internal spear 430 shown in FIG. 21 may have an integralinduction-heating coil 423 that is centered over the weld area andpowered through an umbilical cable. Where the spear 430 includescomponents such as injection nozzles 418 and/or ferrite bars 420 thenthe induction coil 423 may be installed in a secondary housing and movedinto position over the weld area immediately prior to use. Therelatively through-wall nature of induction heating allows tempering ofa fully martensitic structure in a comparably short time, usually nolonger than 4 minutes depending on the precise metallurgy of the weldedarea.

An additional external heating coil (not shown), which is welldocumented technology, may be centered over the weld area 419 usingspacers as indicated, and powered to allow tempering. The externalheating coil may consist of a split ring embedded in the split collar407A, 407B shown in FIG. 20 or may consist of a fully encircling coil.Where the proximity of the coil to metallic fixtures around the weldstation are likely to cause extraneous heating then the coil ispositioned some short distance form the weld station. When welding isdone in a sealed chamber formed by the collar 407A, 407B containingshield gases, whether they are non-oxidizing or reducing, then it ispreferred to position the coil inside this chamber.

The relatively through-wall nature of induction heating allows temperingof a fully martensitic structure in a comparably short time, usually nolonger than 4 minutes depending on the precise metallurgy of the weldedarea.

For thick wall pipes 415, 425 it may be preferable to heat using acombination of internal and external coils in an internal spear 430 andexternal collar 407A, 407B to ensure even heating across the pipe wall.In this variation both coils are powered independently andsimultaneously.

The internal spear 430 shown in FIG. 21 may have resistance heatingcontacts (not shown) located circumferentially around its peripheryequidistant above and below the welding zone 419. Current, typically 400Amps, is passed between these contacts through an umbilical cable toheat through electrical resistance. Heating is controlled by an opticalor contact pyrometer located inside or outside the pipe that is in acontrol loop which regulates the passage of current.

Where the spear 430 includes components, such as injection nozzles 418and/or ferrite bars 420, then the resistance contacts will be installedin a secondary housing attached to the primary housing and moved intoposition over the weld area 419 immediately prior to use. The relativelythrough-wall nature of resistance heating allows tempering of a fullymartensitic structure in a comparably short time, usually no longer than4 minutes depending on the precise metallurgy of the welded area 419.

Optionally, external electrical contacts may be positioned above andbelow the welding zone 419 in the configuration described in FIG. 21.Where the proximity of the external contacts to metallic fixtures aroundthe weld station are likely to cause extraneous heating then thecontacts may be positioned some short distance from the weld station andmoved into position as and when required. When welding is done in asealed chamber containing shield gases, whether they are non-oxidisingor reducing, then it is preferred to position the contacts inside thischamber.

The relatively through-wall nature of resistance heating allowstempering of a fully martensitic structure in a comparably short time,usually no longer than 4 minutes depending on the precise metallurgy ofthe welded area.

For thick wall pipes 415, 425 it may be preferable to heat the pipe ends419 using a combination of internal and external contacts to ensure evenheating across the pipe wall. In this variation both sets of contactsare powered independently and simultaneously.

Certain applications of welded tubulars require non-destructive testingof the weld prior to use. In these applications inspection probes 414,422, such as conventional ultrasonic, EMAT or other probes may beincorporated into the internal spear 430 as appropriate.

It may be beneficial for certain materials being welded using forgewelding to be heat treated prior to use to improve their mechanical orcorrosion properties. In these instances a heating device such as theheating coil 423 shown in FIG. 21 may be incorporated into the spearhousing or added as an accessory in an additional housing. Particularlywith smaller diameter pipes 415, 425 this heating device may be used asthe primary heating device for forge welding.

In certain circumstances, especially with larger diameter tubulars,gripping and compression devices 412, 414, 422, 426 may also beincorporated into the internal spear 430. This has the advantage that anadditional external device, such as the split collar 407A, 407B shown inFIG. 20, is not required, so that the spear 430 can be employed to forgeweld tubulars downhole in a well.

Expandable slotted tubulars as shown, for example, in FIGS. 22-26 may beused in oil and gas wells to control e.g. sand production. For thispurpose the tubulars may wrapped with an assembly of screens with aspecific mesh size to prevent sand from entering into the hole duringproduction. The tubulars with the screens wrapped around them aresupplied to the well location in lengths of typically 10 m. It is knownfrom U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,745 to connect the overlapping ends ofexpandable tubular sections by slotted thread connections.

The slots in both parts of the thread connections are aligned and lockedduring make-up of the tubular on the rig. Once the tubular has reachedits target depth in the hole it is expanded by pushing a cone throughthe tubular to ensure an intimate contact between the outer wall of theexpanded tubular and the formation or casing inner wall.

The slotted connections known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,745 are designedin such a way that the expansion force required at the cone to expandthe connection is similar to that of the slotted pipe itself. This isessential because it enables the cone to be pushed down the hole withoutthe risk of buckling the unexpanded pipe section below the cone.

However, the known slotted connections are expensive elements of thetubular and the make-up of the connections while running the tubularinto the hole is a critical operation.

The forge welding method according to the invention aims at replacing ofthe threaded connection known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,745 by a weldedconnection to overcome the disadvantages of the threaded connections.

The method according to invention may be used to forge weld the ends ofa partially slotted tubular 501 as shown in FIG. 22 to the ends ofadjacent partially slotted expandable tubulars (not shown).

The unexpanding tubular 501 has a diameter D2 which is at least 10%smaller to than the diameter of the expanded tubular (not shown) afterexpansion in the hole. The end faces 502 of the tubular are machined asper the requirements for the welding process to be applied on the rigsite. The middle section of the tubular 503 is provided with slots 504leaving solid sections 505 of pipe at both ends of the tubular.

FIG. 23 shows the solid, unslotted, end section 505 which is folded insuch a way that the outer diameter of the section equals the diameter D1of the unexpanded tubular while running into the hole.

After that the middle section 503 is also reduced to the same diameterD1 by compressing the slots machined in the pipe body which is shown inFIG. 24. This implies that the middle section remains cylindrical.Finally the tubular 24 is provided with an expandable sand-screenassembly (not shown).

On the rig the corrugated end sections 505 of two tubular sections arewelded together by forge welding whilst a reducing flushing gas isflushed around the heated tubular ends during at least part of the forgewelding operation. Once the string of unexpanded tubulars joined byforge welding has reached the target depth a cone is pushed through thetubular string from top to bottom or vice versa. The slotted pipe bodyis thereby expanded to an enlarged diameter D2 and the corrugated endsections of the joints which are forge welded together are unfolded andreach their original diameter again, which is similar to the diameter D2of the expanded slotted tubular sections.

Advantages of the forge welded connection are:

Handling of the tubular joints on the rig site is drastically simplifiedbecause alignment of the tubular joints is easily done by aligning thecorrugated end sections of the joints.

The end sections of the joints are not slotted which facilitates theheating process; there is a continuous path for the current flow.

The cone force required to shape the solid end sections of the slottedtubulars is much lower than the force required to expand the sectionbecause the end sections are only “unfolded”; no increase of thecircumferential length of the tubular is required.

A large diameter ratio between the tubular while running into the holeand after installation because this ratio is not limited by the maximumexpansion ratio of solid tubulars.

The diameter ratio is governed by the percentage of the circumference ofthe tubular that is provided with slots.

An alternative process and embodiment of the welded slotted tubularcomprises a tubular with an initial diameter equal to that required forrunning the tubular into the hole. Both end sections of this solidtubular are expanded to the diameter of the tubular after installationin the well. The middle section and part of both expanded end sectionsare provided with slots. Then the expanded end sections (solid andslotted part) are folded to reduce their diameter again to that of theslotted part of the tubular.

After this, the procedure is identical to that described above. Thelimitation of this process is that the maximum diameter ratio betweenpre and post expansion that can be achieved is governed by the maximumexpansion ratio of the solid pipe.

To prevent the slots or perforations which are a necessary element in avariety of expandable tubulars welding together during the forge weldprocess it is necessary to fill the slots or perforations with anon-weld-able material which will not interfere with the welding andexpansion processes.

FIG. 25 illustrates the steps required to fill the slots or perforationswith ceramic slurry that sets inside the slots or perforation. The firststep in the operation, indicates a solid tubular 506 prepared forslotting or perforating. Slots or perforations 507 are then cut. In somevariations of the technology slots and/or perforations are cut in a flatsheet which is then worked into tubulars. Both of these alternativemethods may be used to produce slotted/perforated expandable tubulars.For forge welding it is sometimes advantageous to increase the width ofslots which intersect the free surface of the tube butt end for adistance of approximately 1-2 mm from the butt end. Once the slots orperforations 507 are made a coffer (not shown) is positioned around theends of the tubulars and the area is flooded with ceramic slurry 508.Vibration may be applied to ensure that the slurry completely fills theperforations or slots 507. It is necessary for the coffer to encompassan area of the tubular 506 extending from above the tip of the tubularto a region covering at least two rows of perforations or slots.Typically this would require a depth of coverage of approximately 100mm. Finally, excess ceramic is removed, leaving the slots orperforations 507 completely filled with ceramic filler 509.

During welding of the butted pipe ends it is often advantageous to flushthe weld area with a reducing or non-oxidising gas or gas mixture. Toaccomplish this with slotted or perforated expandable tubulars it isnecessary to ensure that the area containing the slots is completelysealed.

FIG. 26 illustrates a simple method to accomplish this. A sealing device512 is positioned inside the upper and lower pipes 510, 516. The sealingdevice 512 comprises sealing elements 513 that are of a sufficientlength to completely cover at least two rows of slots or perforations511. This configuration ensures that the internal area at the ends ofthe pipes 510, 516 is sealed to allow gas flushing. In addition to theinternal seal an external sealing chamber is also required. This sealingchamber has extended sealing elements 514, which are designed tocompletely cover at least two rows of slots or perforations 511.

The requirement to completely cover at least two rows of slots orperforations 511 as described above is the preferred embodiment howeverwhere the slots or perforations do not overlap it is acceptable to coveronly a single row, although this increases the risk of leakage.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the invention includescreating a cavity into an end surface of one of the tubular ends thatare to be joined, inserting a marker into said cavity and subsequentlyjoining the tubular ends.

The tubular ends may be joined by welding, such as forge welding, or maybe pressed together by a screw thread connector.

The thus inserted marker may comprise an electronic tag such as apassive radio frequency identification tag, or a magnetic or radioactivematerial and the cavity may be machined at or near the center of saidend surface.

The invention also relates to a string of joined tubulars that aremarked in accordance with the invention, so that a marker is permanentlyarranged in a cavity adjacent to at least one joined tubular joint. Thetubular string may comprise a plurality of joints that are provided withmarkers, wherein each marker transmits a radio, magnetic, radioactive orother detectable signal, which is detected using appropriate equipment,and may be different to the signal transmitted by any other marker.

Thus, the present invention provides an improved method of marking jointlocations when used with screw thread connections or welding techniques,such as forge welding, fusion welding, diffusion welding, amorphousbonding, friction welding or other techniques in which a metallurgicalbond is formed between abutted pipe ends. It preferably involvespositioning a marker mid-wall in a tubular joint such that it is anintegral part of the joint and cannot be dislodged.

As shown in FIGS. 27 and 28 the method according to the inventioninvolves preparing the tubular ends 601 and 602 of a tubular joint forwelding, and machining a slot or hole 603 into an end face of one of thetubular ends 601.

A small electronic tag, or amount of radioactive or magnetic materialmay then be placed securely into the slot 603 to act as a permanentmarker 604. When welding takes place the area containing the marker isforged and the marker 604 becomes trapped inside the made-up string ofpipes, which are lowered into the hole. When necessary it may then bedetected using an appropriate logging device.

FIG. 29 depicts an embodiment of the joint marking method according tothe invention wherein a pair of tubulars 610, 611 is interconnected by ascrew thread connector 612 such that inner and outer disk-shaped endsurfaces 613 and 614 are pressed together after the screw threadconnection has been made.

A cavity 615 has been drilled into the outer disk-shaped end face of theupper tubular 610, in which cavity 615 a marker 616 has been inserted.The marker 616 is embedded in a sealant 617 that seals off the entranceof the cavity.

The marker 616 is adequately sealed off from fluids in the interior andexterior of the string of tubulars 610, 611 and is adequately protectedfrom impacts and forces exerted on the inner and outer walls of thestring of tubulars 610, 611.

1. A method of joining expandable tubulars and expanding the joinedtubulars, the method comprising: joining the tubulars by forge weldingwhile flushing a reducing flushing gas around the heated tubular endsduring at least part of the forge welding operation such that oxides areremoved from the forge welded tubular ends and the amount ofirregularities between the forge welded tubular ends is limited; andradially expanding the joined tubulars.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the tubulars comprise slots and/or other perforations at or nearthe forge welded ends, which slots and/or other perforations are filledwith a heat resistant filler during the welding process.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein the tubular ends are heated by passing a highfrequency current in circumferential direction through the tubular wallsnear the tubular ends that are to be joined, and the heat resistantfiller comprises an electrically conductive ceramic material.
 4. Themethod of claim 2 in which slots and/or perforations which intersect theexposed tubular ends have an increased width at the tubular ends tomitigate against forging together of the side walls of the slots and/orperforations when the tubular ends are joined by forge welding.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the tubular ends are both expanded and foldedinto a substantially similar dented or corrugated shape before the forgewelding operation, whereupon the dented or corrugated tubular ends areforge welded together and are unfolded into a substantially cylindricalshape during the subsequent tube expansion process.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the tubulars have an un-slotted, substantiallycontinuous, wall in the region of the welded ends and comprise an arrayof staggered slots and/or other perforations away of the welded ends,such that when the tube is expanded the welded initially dented orcorrugated tubular ends unfold to a substantially cylindrical shape andthe slots and/or other perforations are widened.
 7. The method of claim1, wherein the ends of a pair of at least partially overlapping tubularsare joined by forge welding by heating the overlapping tubular ends to aforge welding temperature and pressing the heated partially overlappingtubular ends together whilst a reducing flushing gas is flushed aroundthe heated tubular ends during at least part of the forge weldingoperation.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein a forge welding device isinserted into the inner tubular which heats up the tubular end, flushesa reducing flushing gas into any gap remaining between the overlappingtubular ends and which subsequently presses the outer surface of theheated end of the inner tubular against the inner surface of the outertubular to join said tubular ends by forge welding.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the tubular ends are teethed or have a sinusoidal shapein order to alleviate forces to the forge welded tubular ends during theexpansion and/or unfolding process.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinthe flushing gas is a non-explosive mixture of a substantially inert gasand a reducing gas.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the flushing gascomprises more than 90% by volume of a substantially inert gas, such asnitrogen, helium or argon and more than 2% by volume of hydrogen.